Venero Dellanucci
Venero Michael "Vic" Dellanucci (August 15, 1932 - February 5, 2020) was an Italian-American mobster who was the boss of the Francese crime family. Early Life Dellanucci was born sometime in August 1932 in Brooklyn, New York to Italian immigrants. His father Nicola "Nick" Dellanucci was a known document forger and swindler who orginated in Naples and was associated with the Fellini and Marciano familes. Dellanucci dropped out of school when he was 14 to help his family stay economically balanced. His mother had recently become a seamstress and his father was a bagman and enforcer for the Marciano family. Dellanucci followed in these footsteps and became a bagboy for the Marcianos. History with New York Associate Dellanucci was a valuable and respected associate for the Marciano family at the age of 25. The reason for this was that Dellanucci was 6'3''' and 230 lbs. It was around this time that Dellanucci met with Francesco "Frank" Boia, a soldier and hitman for the Francese family who saw potential in Dellanucci. Dellanucci became an enforcer for Boia who was in the crew of Aldo Cassara. Cassara was later murdered for trying to go to war against then Francese boss Santo Francese. Boia was placed in charge of the crew and he put in for Dellanucci to be made. Dellanucci's ascension to a made man was interrupted when he was arrested in 1968 for armed robbery and sentenced to 2 years in prison. '''Made Man' After Dellanucci was released in prison in 1970, he was put back onto the street. Dellanucci was in charge of gambling rackets in Brooklyn and was making about $3,000 a week from it. It is thought that Dellanucci's ticket into the Francese family was a contract on a captain named Albert DePaolo, who was suspected of conspiring to kill family boss Santo Francese. DePaolo was shot by three gunmen while having dinner with a soldier in his crew. Family informant Francis Panetto state that it was Dellanucci, Benito DeNova, and Philip Fumuro who killed DePaolo. Although recent informant Nicholas Giancarlo states it it was not Dellanucci but imprisoned former acting boss Dominick DiLeo who pulled the trigger. Capo In 1979, Frank Boia was arrested on murder charges and was sentenced to 35 years in prison. The 69-year old Boia could not lead the crew anymore so he promoted Dellanucci to captain. Dellanucci had a heavy alliance with Francese protege and current boss at that time, Calogero Spotura, which may have influenced this decision. Dellanucci's crew specialized in taxing and extorting construction companies. The crew controlled the construction monopoly by taxing companies from between $1 - $4 on every pound of steel or lead. Dellanucci was also a part of the group known as the Upcomers, which consisted of now capo Peter Rizzo, now capo Anthony Sandrilino, and now consigliere Reginald Belvento, who were seen in the eyes of the family as great leadership material. Dellanucci's crew was apart of a scheme to split extortion wages among families. The scheme involved the overall tax money made at the end of the month being split up between the Francese family, Fellini family, Marciano family, Correre family, and the Laurenda family. The calculation were as follows: Francese recieved 35%, Fellini 20%, Marciano 20%, Laurenda 20%, and Correre 5%. This lasted until 1988 when the two capos who had a major role in the scheme, Dellanucci and Marciano captain Anthony Ciceli were imprisoned. Dellanucci was indentified in 1990 by mob turncoat Alphonse B'Amato still as a captain. Mob Wedding In 1980, FBI and authorities captured many photos of criminals associated with the Francese and Laurenda families. The wedding was between Mario Longo, son of Francese underboss Steven Longo, and Michele Percona, daughter of Laurenda captain Carlo Percona. The wedding was attended by many high-echelon members of both families including Dellanucci, Longo, and then boss Santo Francese, as well as Laurenda members like Percona, boss John Noli, and legendary consigliere Vincenzo Nerlopo. Dellanucci was observed as giving Mario Longo and his new wife a large envelope, which in it contained $15,000. Consigliere Upon his release from prison in 1996, Dellanucci was thrown back into the operation with the families, with the exception of the Correre and Laurenda families who dropped out due to increased attention from the authorities. While he was working on the construction sites, he was working in close proximity with consigliere Francesco Vertucci, also known on the streets as Frankie Corbano. Dellanucci was built up to be Vertucci's protege. Together, the two made over $1,080,000 for the family over the course of three years. In 1999, Vertucci was imprisoned on racketeering charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He requested to family boss Joseph Cacciatore that his protege Venero Dellanucci be promoted to the spot of consigliere. In 2001, Dellanucci was indicted on charges of extortion and was sentenced to 18 months. As family boss Joseph Cacciatore's health started to fail, and he was sentenced to jail time, Dellanucci started to take stronger control of the family as Acting Boss. Ascension to Boss On March 12, 2007 Joseph "Joe the Pidgeon" Cacciatore's 9-year reign as boss ended when he died in prison of thyroid cancer. The majority of the family capos voted underboss Paul Rizzo to become boss. Rizzo rejected the offer of leader of the family due to his growing age and failing health. That left none other than consigliere and acting boss Venero Dellanucci to take up the title. In 2007, Venero Dellanucci became the official boss of the Francese crime family. To fill in the spot of consigliere, Dellanucci promoted 70-year old captain Giovanni Santino to fill the spot. He also promoted longtime captain Matthew Zaccarino to be his right hand man (street boss). On April 18, 2008, Dellanucci was hit with a RICO indictment, citing multiple federal charges, including racketeering, extortion, bribery and murder conspiracy. Francese family soldier-turned-informant Nicholas Giancarlo provided testimony that convicted Dellanucci. He was convicted of all charges on September 3, 2010 and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on November 19. To help substitute his role, Dellanucci put in longtime captain Dominick DiLeo as ''Acting Boss. ''Upon DiLeo's life sentence in 2014, Dellanucci promoted respected captain Benito DeNova to take over family operations. Life in prison In 2010, Dellanucci was initially transported to United States Penitentiary (USP), Lee in Virginia. In 2015, he was moved to USP Allenwood, in Pennsylvania. It was reported that as of January 2018, Dellanucci was confined to a wheelchair. In June 2019, it was reported that Dellanucci was suffering from pancreatic cancer and sleep apnea. He is completely blind. Death On the morning of February 5, 2020, corrections officers at USP Allenwood found Dellanucci unresponsive in his cell, his sleep apnea machine still running. He was rushed to a prison hospital but was pronounced dead at the age of 87. Family Dellanucci married Gina Sasso in 1958 and has four children. Sasso died in 2005. He is also survived by 9 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. None of his family members are involved in organized crime.